UCDA Creative Summit

Ellen opened her namesake design and marketing firm, Ellen Bruss Design (EBD), in 1990. Clients include Hammond’s Candies, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Western Sugar, Lennar LMC, Wolff Companies, the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver, Redline, and the Denver Art Museum. EBD’s creative efforts have resulted in national and international recognition in over 200 publications, including Graphis, Print and How magazines. Ellen was featured in GDUSA's 2014 People to Watch issue, was honored with an AIGA Fellow Award in 2015, and was a judge of the 2017 Applied Arts Magazine Design Awards. Ellen has served on the boards of ADCD (now One Club), AIGA/Colorado, and is a Trustee Emeritus of the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver.

Dave (@davecameron) is a human who likes to enable other humans to create, discover, and share awesome experiences with the world. Currently senior web strategist and product lead at Ithaca College, he has worked in higher ed communications for 17 years. An award-winning speaker, he’s delivered conference keynotes, workshops, and TEDx talks, and writes at dave-cameron.com about working better by being more human. When not working or learning, Dave is practicing photography, sleight-of-hand magic, and ukulele (not all at the same time), while enjoying the finest local food and drink of the Finger Lakes and generally hanging out with his awesome wife at home in Ithaca, New York.

Mark is the creative director at Traina where he has helped lead the studio’s transformation from a boutique design firm to an integrated branding agency. Based in San Diego, Traina develops strategic brand communications, digital experiences and advertising campaigns for Fortune 500 companies and start-ups alike. Since joining Traina, Mark has led the creative efforts on several high profile accounts including UC San Diego, Microsoft Learning, Thermo Fisher Scientific and 10x Genomics. He also led the rebrand of Facebook Business as well as the launch of Showcase, Facebook’s new platform for original content. Over his 25-year career, Mark’s strategic mindset and consummate craftsmanship have earned him recognition in several national design publications including Communication Arts, Print, and How magazines as well as numerous design competitions.

Rick is a graphic designer and master letterpress printer. His work is an exploration of language, history, politics, science, music, and ethics. Born and raised in London, Rick immigrated to the U.S. in the late '80s. His love of design (and his partner Debra Johnson) sustain the design practice MATTER, which, has grown into an ambidextrous design consultancy, print shop, workshop, and retail bookstore. As design director at MATTER, Rick works across all media for business, culture, and civic engagement. Rick is an active participant in the Denver design community, and travels the world as a visiting artist, lecturer, and educator—sharing his enthusiasm and knowledge with the next generation of designers.

Stacy is a 30-year veteran in the world of branding, positioning and creative program development and the owner of Sector Brands, a social purpose branding firm located in Denver, Colorado. Since 2006 Stacy has worked with Metropolitan State University of Denver as a brand strategy consultant and partner, working collaboratively with the MSU Denver’s Strategy, Marketing and Communications team to providing brand research, creative strategy and program execution for various branding initiatives.   

A graduate of Arizona State University with a BFA in Graphic Design, Scott currently serves as associate director of brand strategy at Metropolitan State University of Denver responsible all high-level assets pertaining to the visual aspect of the University’s brand. Prior to this role Scott also served as affiliate faculty for the Communication Design program at the university, where he taught courses in typography, visual branding and systems design, and experiential learning where students interact with actual clients. In addition to his branding career in academia, Scott created brand identities and design systems as a Managing Director at Monigle Associates—an internationally recognized brand consultancy in Denver—as well as owner of his own visual brand consultancy, Sonova Corporation. Scott blends his passion for design and music as owner of Surine Basses, a custom boutique bass manufacturer based in Denver. 

Donna runs an independent content agency focused on higher education, and is the founder/publisher of Hippocampus Magazine and Books and its annual conference, HippoCamp. Talarico has more than two decades of experience in marketing communications, writing, and media, and about half of that time has been in higher education. She writes an adult learner marketing column for Wiley, and has contributed to CASE Currents, Guardian Higher Education Network, The Writer, mental floss, various alumni magazines, and other trade, commercial, and literary publications.

A member of the Marketing & Communications Office at Elizabethtown College, Wendy’s primary role is to manage the college’s visual image and brand. This includes providing graphic design support for marketing and advertising  initiatives. Her days are spent consulting with colleagues and clients, recommending creative strategies, and designing marketing collateral. She attended her first UCDA Design Conference in 2006, in Austin Texas, and has been a strong supporter of the organization ever since.